Synthesis, characterization, thermal conductivity and sensitivity of CuO nanofluids

In the present work CuO nanoparticles have been synthesized using wet chemical method and characterized using UV-Vis, PL, DLS, SEM, TEM and XRD. To evaluate effect of precursor salt CuO nanoparticles were synthesized using two different starting precursors viz copper acetate and copper sulphate. It was observed that keeping all other parameters fixed, CuO nanoparticles synthesized from copper sulphate were of regular shape and smaller size as compared to copper acetate based CuO nanoparticles. CuO nanoparticles synthesized from copper sulphate precursor were used for preparation of nanofluids in distilled water, ethylene glycol and engine oil base fluids using two step approach. These prepared nanofluids were examined for their potential of modulation in thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity was measured using KD2 Pro which is based on transient line heat source method. 40% increment in thermal conductivity was observed for distilled water based nanofluids for change in temperature from 10 to 70 degrees C and concentration variation from 0 to 2 vol%. In case of ethylene glycol and engine oil based nanofluids thermal conductivity enhancement was 27% and 19%. Sensitivity analysis for thermal conductivity was also performed. Sensitivity analysis shows that at higher concentration sensitivity increases and varies significantly for different base fluids. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.